Two late goals helped Austria defeat Northern Ireland U18s in a friendly international at Stangmore Park Dungannon this evening.
The first of two friendlies between the sides looked to be heading for a scoreless draw but strikes by Stefan Kordic and Zeteny Jano in the space of six minutes secured victory for the visitors.
International friendly
Northern Ireland U18 0
Austria U18 2
Venue
Stangmore Park, Dungannon
Scorers
Austria: Stefan Kordic 76, Zeteny Jano 82
How it happened
The Austrians started the brighter of the two teams however with Jack Patterson, Rio Morgan and Lewis Trickett getting busy in midfield Gerard Lyttle's team quickly gained a foothold and proved more than a match for the visitors.
Goalscoring opportunities though were at a premium in the opening 45 minutes as much of the contest was played out in midfield.
Northern Ireland provided the first real threat when Trickett swooped on a loose ball to scamper clear on the left but his cross was cut out by a back-tracking defender with Glenfield waiting to pounce.
Around the half hour mark Morgan released Glenfield on the right but, after rounding goalkeeper Kenan Jusic, the Fleetwood Town attacker fired his effort horribly wide.
The visitors' best opportunity of the half came seven minutes before the break. A Northern Ireland defender miscued in attempting to clear a Zeteny Jano free kick and, with the goal at his mercy, Jakob Maximilian Scholler somehow steered the ball wide of Pierce Charles' right post.
Both teams continued to trade blows on the resumption of the new half with Austria striker Furkan Dursun testing Charles with a low shot after a quick turn on the left of the penalty area.
Lyttle's team responded with right-back Sean Brown joining the attack to curl inches wide of Jusic's far post before an acrobatic overhead kick by Glenfield just cleared the visiting crossbar.
Glenfield went even closer moments later when he cut in from the right to crash a low shot against Jusic's near post.
Thereafter the Austrians upped the ante and two goals in six minutes won the contest.
On 76 minutes substitute Stefan Kordic turned sharply and fired home following a good break on the right and shortly afterwards Charles failed to hold a low shot by Maritz Neumann and Jano was on hand to tap home.
Reaction
Manager Gerard Lyttle
“It was a fantastic exercise for our boys against really, really good opposition. We knew that because we had watched a lot of their previous games. We came up against a system that we hadn't come up against before and we knew they were going to be very aggressive in their possession and their attacking play and I thought we limited a lot of their strengths. We were very unlucky second half when we hit the post and they went up the field and scored. It's something we'll learn from, that's what these games are for. There were a lot of positives tonight.”
Teams
Northern Ireland
Pierce Charles; Reece Jordan; Darragh McCloskey; Daithi McCallion (c); Gallagher Lennon; Sean Brown (Phoenix Scholtz 90); Lewis Trickett (Sean Moore 78); Jack Patterson (Caolan Donnelly 66) ; Rio Morgan (Luca Doherty 90); Reece Evans (Eoin Kenny 78); Sam Glenfield (Corey Smith 90).
Subs not used: Kai McClean; Odhran McCart; Conor Barr; Omari Kellyman; Ryan Donnelly;.
Austria
Kenan Jusic (c); Alparslan Baran; Furkan Dursun (Stefan Kordic; 67); Zeteny Jano (Mucahit Ibrahimoglu 87);; Adrian Jordi Koreimann; Kevin Lebersorger; Fabian Jankovic; Matteo Schablas; Benedict Scharner; ; Jakob Maximilian Scholler; Tim Trummer (Moritz Neumann; 67).
Subs not used: Benjamin Goschl; Tobias Gruber; Diego Madritsch; Florian Micheler; Marcel Moswitzer; Valentin Oelz; Luca Pazourek; Mario Pejazic.
Referee
Tom Symington (Portadown)
Next up
Northern Ireland U18 v Austria U18, Stangmore Park, Thursday, November 17
